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In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to Europe with a travel partner. Since my travel mate was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.

We got to the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the Upper West Side named International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, sat down, and began chatting with people eating there.

Adjacent to my seat was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I explained that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.

He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I consider applying for a role with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.

A day later I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that night. The Iraqi student walked over to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but immediately told my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.

Reflecting the city's spirit – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.

I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.

I lost touch with him and I don’t even know his identity, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.

Critically, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I met my wonderful partner, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.

Can you recall the Kindest Gesture a Stranger Has Once Performed for You?

From cheering you up to altering your path, we are interested in chance encounters that have remained in your memory.

We invite you to tell us if you are 18 or over, keeping your details private if you choose. The stories you tell are secure, and are solely for the purpose of this feature.